Commons protest: Inside job

Five activists made a mockery of intense security as they unfurled giant banners next to Big Ben protesting against the expansion of Heathrow.

The three men and two women then handcuffed themselves to the building as police with boltcutters, forbidden by health and safety rules to tackle them, looked on helplessly from a gangway.

One of the women wore a miniature head camera and provided video pictures of the stunt to news channels. A colleague gave media interviews from the roof on his phone boasting about how easy it had been.

On Monday a group from Greenpeace climbed onto a passenger jet at Heathrow in protest at plans to build another runway.

An MP or researcher is suspected of guiding today's protesters, from pressure group Plane Stupid, through a warren of corridors and getting their equipment past security scanners.

It was the worst breach of Commons security since Otis Ferry, son of Bryan, led a group of five pro-hunt protesters onto the floor of the Commons in 2004.

Police quickly concluded that today's breach, like the Ferry protest, was an inside job that was set up by someone with intimate knowledge of Parliament and an official security pass.

A police source said: "Their banners were far too big to take through the security scanners for visitors. That means they must have been carried in by a passholder.

"What really irritates us that someone whose life we protect has done something that will encourage further attempts to penetrate security, perhaps by groups that are dangerous."

Gordon Brown told MPs in the Commons: "The message should go out very clearly that decisions in this country should be made in the chamber of this House and not on the roof of this House."

The incredibly complicated route taken by the group to reach the roof involved a labyrinth of corridors and staircases that an outsider could not have navigated without help. They are thought to have used a doorway that only a passholder with an official "swipecard" could have opened.

Speaking to the Standard from the roof, Richard George, 27, from Wimbledon, claimed they simply walked in posing as members of the public wanting to watch a debate. "We went up to the Upper Committee Corridor and found a fire escape that led onto the roof. We went up in a lift and walked out on to the roof. It was as simple as that."

The group said they managed to carry out a reconnaissance mission in advance. Fellow protester Leo Murray said: "It was surprisingly uncomplicated. We found there is an area of the roof where some civil servants sneak out for a cigarette and it's out of the way."

The timing was chosen to cause maximum embarrassment for Mr Brown during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions at noon. It marked the end of an official consultation on Heathrow expansion which Mr George claimed was rigged to suit the air industry.

From their perch above Parliament Square, clearly visible to thousands of commuters and tourists, the five threw paper darts made from a document, obtained by Greenpeace under Freedom of Information laws.

Mr George said it showed that BAA, who run Heathrow, wrote parts of the Government consultation document. The protesters agreed to come down only when the Prime Minister passed below them on his way in.

Matthew Knowles, spokesman for the Society of British Aerospace Companies, said: "These stunts are becoming tiresome and do nothing more than peddle inaccurate propaganda."

Michelle Di Leo, director of FlyingMatters, a coalition of unions, business, tourism groups and farmers, commented: "Today's action by Plane Stupid is misjudged, misdirected, and irresponsible.

"Aviation is responsible for two per cent of global carbon emissions and is growing at a slower global rate than power generation and industry. If they are serious about climate change, they should engage in a proper debate."